Clive Barker's Undying Boss Strategy/FAQ Created by: Rapskallion (AKA BrianR755) Date: March 2001 Copyright 2001 Brian Renbarger Table of Contents: I. Introduction II. General Boss Strategies III. The Bosses -1. Cursed Cleavage: Lizabeth -2. Chop Chop!: Ambrose -3. An Old Rival: Keisinger -4. Chained Terror: Aaron -5. Playing in the Dirt: Bethany -6. Nuclear Worm: The Undead King IV. Frequently Asked Questions V. Credits VI. Legal Stuff ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Introduction ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Having a hard time taking out those hard to beat bosses in Clive Barker's Undying? Have no fear, Rapskallion is here! I've gone back and beat each boss numerous times, trying out all sorts of different strategies against them, and now I am going to share the quickest, easiest, and least confusing way to hack through these undead mofos. If you have any suggestions, ideas, comments, complaints, or criticisms please let me know. E-mail me at Brian755@home.com with whatever you have to say. I appreciate your ideas and also appreciate your praise :). Oh, and please don't email me spam, I really do not like it. If you think you've got an easier way of beating a particular boss, send it to me. If it is something good, I'll add it to this FAQ and give you the credit you deserve. Now, a little bit about myself. Boss FAQs and game reviews are my specialty, and if you'd like to check out my other wonderful work that has been posted at GameFAQ's wonderful website, simply click on my name to view my profile. Voila! That wasn't too tough, was it? Oh, and one more thing. Please do not use this FAQ on any other site without my permission. If you are interested in using this FAQ on a webpage other than GameFAQ's, e-mail me at Brian755@home.com to get permission first. Thank you, and enjoy! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- II. General Boss Strategies ----------------------------------------------------------------------- There are a few things to remember when fighting the bosses in Undying. If you follow these basic strategies, it should make your battles easier and less frustrating. Use your shield: Perhaps the most important thing to remember is to try and keep your shield on at all times against basically all bosses. Now of course you can't do that against Lizabeth since you don't have the shield spell yet, but once you acquire it, use it. You'd be surprised how much it helps. Keep moving: Its very important to keep moving against these bosses. If you stand still, you'll be dead before you know it. If you have to change weapons or spells, do it while you are moving. If your health is low, run around in circles while your health packs raise it up. The only time you should stand still is when you are attacking. Be aggressive: You will never kill anything if you don't attack it. Be aggressive against the bosses. The worst thing that can happen is you'll die and have to reload! Go out on a limb and give up some of your life for a good attack. Who knows, maybe that last effort offensive move is all that it takes to finish the boss off. Suicidal attacks (attacks where you don't worry about your own life) does more damage than you can imagine. Of course, don't get into a habit of being overly aggressive, either. Use your head: Unlike most first-person shooters, many of the bosses in Undying require some thought instead of all out firepower. If you don't seem to be getting anywhere by beating the crap out of one of the bosses, try and find a weak point. It could be a lot easier than it looks... ----------------------------------------------------------------------- III. The Bosses ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Cursed Cleavage: Lizabeth Difficulty: Easy Word of Advice: Not much strategy involved here; just kick her ass! Well, here it is, the first boss of the game. Just so you know, it doesn't take this long to get to the other bosses; you are about one third of the way through the game when you reach the first boss. Lizabeth seems like a tough little cookie, but she isn't as hard as she looks. First thing we gotta do is get rid of those damn skeletons. Ignoring Lizabeth, go up to the skeletons and use invoke on them one by one. While you are waiting for your invoke to recharge, fend off the others by hitting them with your Gel'ziabar Stone (note: if you hold the stone when you cast invoke, it will only use half of your mana instead of all of it). After the skeletons are out of the way, its time to face Liz. You can kill Lizabeth with any weapon, but my personal favorites are the shotgun or the scythe. The shotgun is probably the better choice since you can avoid Lizabeth's nasty melee attacks. Make sure that your shotgun is on double barrel mode (activate by pushing Alt), and it won't take too long to kill her. Be wary of her melee attacks; she has some missle attacks as well, but they do very little damage. If you want to conserve ammo and you have some health packs to spare, feel free to go right up to her and slash at her with the scythe; one very good tactic is to run up to her, slash her real quickly, then run away again. Well, whatever weapon you choose to use, eventually she will start glowing. This means she is near death, and she is pretty damn pissed too. Keep attacking her, being even more careful of her melee attacks. Eventually she will stop attacking and begin to wobble like someone who has had a bit too much to drink. Go up to her with the scythe and pop off her little head. Ding dong, the witch is dead (again)! 2. Chop Chop!: Ambrose Difficulty: Very easy Word of Advice: Just take your time aiming, and he'll be dead in just a few shots! It took me forever to figure out how to kill this big gorilla of a man. I spent nearly an hour firing everything I had at him, until I happened to stumble onto the trick to beating him. You see your Gel'ziabar Stone stuck in his axe? All you have to do is shoot the stone out of his axe with your pistol, and he's dead! The best way to do this is to run around the room, letting him chase after you. After a minute or two, a big creature (lion?) will jump out of the wall and grab onto his arm. While Ambrose struggles with the creature, carefully aim your pistol at the stone and fire. If your aim is true, the stone will pop out of the axe and Ambrose will return to his original self. Go pick up your stone and slice off his head with the scythe. Now, wasn't that easy? TRICK: Do you wanna have your stone with you while you fight him? Well then, all you gotta do is save the game at the beginning of the battle, then after you shoot the stone out of his axe and pick it up, load your game. When you start the battle again, you will have the stone in your inventory and it will also be on the axe. This doesn't really help you at all, but I just thought I'd share my discovery :). 3. An Old Rival: Keinsinger Difficulty: Hard Word of Advice: Keep moving and try to avoid his attacks at all costs, they do mega damage! Keinsinger is a pretty tough opponent, by far the toughest you've faced yet. Like Lizabeth, there is no weak point or trick to beating him; just hit him with all the firepower you've got! Now, there are many ways to beat him. My personal favorite is skull storm combined with the shotgun, but another good one (probably a safer method) is shield/shotgun. If you are doing the shield/shotgun, make sure that your shield is up at all times. Whenever you get a chance, carefully and quickly aim your shotgun at Keinsinger and fire away. Make sure your shotgun is on double barrel mode, and go ahead and equip the phosphorous shells if you want. Don't bother firing at him when he has that purple ball surrounding him; that is his shield, and you'll be just wasting ammo. Make sure that you keep moving, because even with shield up, his attacks can kill you in a matter of seconds. Unless you have skull storm amplified to AT LEAST level 3, I would advise against using skull storm. I like using it because it is easy to aim, does major damage, and doesn't take any ammo. However, you run a risk by not using shield; make sure you avoid Keinsinger's attacks. Aim the skulls at him and fire away, quickly running for cover from Keinsinger's own skull storm. However you fight him, Keinsinger will eventually disappear. At this point, drop into the trap door in the middle of the arena. Keinsinger will reappear, ready for another whipping. Whip out your shotgun and shield spell and open a can of whoop-ass on him. Before long, Keinsinger will fall to his death. 4. Chained Terror: Aaron Difficulty: Medium (Easy if you use this guide, though!) Word of Advice: Stay light on your feet and strafe like crazy! Aaron is a bit tricky, so listen up! Equip the shield spell and the scythe and go at him, swinging like a madman. Before long, you'll cut off his arm. At this point, Aaron will go to the middle of the arena and start shooting his chain at you. Stay along the perimeter, making sure to keep your shield up and strafing to avoid his fire as much as possible. What you want to do is line yourself up behind one of the chains that hang down from the ceiling. Stand behind one of these chains and wait for Aaron to throw his chain at you. If done right, Aaron's chain will get caught and you can go up to him and slice off his head with the scythe. Sound easy? Well, sorta. The problem is positioning. You have to be placed PERFECTLY behind the chain, or Aaron won't get caught. It may take a few times before you finally get it, so be patient. Thankfully Aaron's attack doesn't do that much damage when you have your shield up, so if at first you don't succeed, try, try again! TIP: If you are having trouble getting Aaron to get his chain stuck in one of those hanging chains, there is an easier way to do it. Look around. You should see a wooden door in the room. Once Aaron starts throwing his chain at you, go and stand in front of it. When Aaron throws his chain at you, get out of the way and it will stick to the wooden door. This is much easier than trying to get him to get stuck on one of the other chains. (Special thanks to David Waddling and Drew Lucy for contributing this strategy.) 5. Playing in the Dirt: Bethany Difficulty: Hard Word of Advice: Strafe to avoid the missile attacks and never, ever stop moving! Bethany would be simple if it wasn't for her two annoying buddies. First thing you need to do is make sure your shield spell is up; if it isn't, you'll be dead before you know it. There are two sorceresses floating around the arena; make life a bit easier by taking them out A.S.A.P. with either your pistol with silver bullets or skull storm. After they are down for the count, blast the creature that Bethany summons with either skull storm, your shotgun, or the scythe. Now that Bethany is all alone, all you gotta do is run up to her and slice off her head. Make sure you do it quickly though, or she'll summon another creature for your entertainment. After she's dead, watch the surprising cutscene and prepare yourself for your final battle: the undead roach.. er, I mean king. 6. Nuclear Worm: The Undead King Difficulty: Medium Word of Advice: Stay away from the shore and stay away from his mouth and you'll be fine. Notice that the King is very fat and lazy; he won't move an inch the entire fight. I know what you're thinking. What the hell is that?!?!? Well instead of laughing at this sad excuse for an end boss, just beat the damn thing so you can see the final cutscene, okay? The King is nearly impossible unless you know how to beat him, but once you figure out his weak point he is disappointingly easy. If you don't have any dynamite, grab some from the shoreline, being careful of the tentacles that slap at you from the ocean. Ignore the phoenix eggs; the way we're gonna beat him, we won't be needing them. Now turn on your shield, run right up to him, and drop a few dynamite right in front of him. Run back quickly, but be careful not to run too close to the water; if you do, you'll get butchered. If you set the dynamite correctly, you'll notice that his two lower legs have blown off. Equip your pistol and skull storm and back up a little ways away from him. Pretty soon his stomach (or is that his mouth?) will open up and begin to suck you in. Quickly shoot the hole with your pistol and it will close. He will then expose his weak point; the top of his head. He will lean his long neck forward and scream at you. Launch a few skulls at his head and he will pull back in pain. Next thing you know, his stomach will open again and try to suck you in. After this repeats about 5 times, he'll die. Congratulations, you've just killed one of the most disappointing end bosses ever! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- IV. Frequently Asked Questions ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Here are some helpful questions and answers about the game. Some of these have been from e-mails I've received, others I've just made up. The FAQ is not just limited to boss questions, either. There are many general game questions that I have gone ahead and answered. However, I will not answer any specific puzzle questions on this FAQ. Sorry. 1. Q: Is the Gel'ziabar Stone a weapon? What is it used for? A: I guess you could call the stone a weapon, but it is more of a tool. The stone does a few things. First, it can be used to push enemies back a few feet. Second, it amplifies all spells by 1 when you are holding it. So if your skull storm is level 3 and you are holding the stone, it becomes level 4. Finally, the stone reduces the amount of mana required to cast a spell by half. So if you are using a spell that usually takes 100 mana, it will only take 50 when holding the stone. 2. Q: What do arcane whorls do? A: Arcane whorls are power-ups you will find during the game. They increase the rate at which your mana recharges itself. The more arcane whorls you get, the faster you'll regain mana. 3. Q: What are the silver bullets for? A: Silver bullets can be used against regular enemies the same as regular bullets, but there main purpose is for killing magical enemies. 4. Q: What the heck IS that thing? A: If you are referring to the game's last boss, I have no idea.... 5. Q: I have a question for you, Rapskallion. How do I get in contact with you? A: Well, if you look around really hard, you may find my e-mail address somewhere on this FAQ... considering it is in about a dozen places!!! For those of you who are too lazy, you can e-mail me at Brian755@home.com about whatever it is you want to talk about. 6. Q: What are amplifiers, and how do I use them? A: Amplifiers are probably the most important power-ups in the game. They are small stones that can be identified by the strange humming sound they make. Many are very well hidden, but some are pretty easy to find. Amplifiers increase the strength of a spell; they may increase the damage, increase the duration, or lower the mana cost of the spell. Once you find an amplifier, select it from your item inventory, switch to the spell that you want to amplify, and then use it like you would a health pack (default key: enter). Choose wisely, because amplifiers are hard to find! 7. Q: What spells are best to amplify? A: It's really up to you. There is no point in amplifying scyre or disspell, but beyond that its all a matter of opinion. You may really love using the shield, or may hate it. You might be a big fan of skull storm (like me), or you may find it a waste. Experiment with all of the spells before you invest your amplifiers on them. The only thing that I must insist on is that you put 3 points into shield. Shield is probably the most useful spell and if you put in more than 3 points you will begin to obscure your vision. If you like using the scythe, raise up your haste spell so you attack faster and move quicker. Whatever spells you like, amplify them. It's as simple as that. 8. Q: Why do all the workers still work at the mansion even after all of the haunting and killing? A: Very good question! Must be well paid. 9. Q: What are ether traps? A: Ether traps are devices that you can use to capture spirits and send them to a place far, far away. Try using them on Aaron's naked butt when he is running around the manor slicing at you with his chains. It'll make him go away for a little while. 10. Q: How do I kill skeletons? A: Skeletons can be killed one way and one way only: the invoke spell. Cast it on a skeleton and he will disappear, never to appear again. If you attack a skeleton with a regular weapon, he will fall only to rise again. 11. Q: What are mana wells? A: Mana wells are power-ups that increase your mana by 10. Like Arcane Whorls, they are very hard to find. While 10 mana may not sound like much, if you find 5 of these things your mana has increased by 50%. Not so bad, eh? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- V. Credits ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I'd like to thank Clive Barker for taking time away from the books to create such a great game. One of the first truly scary games to hit the PC, well done! I'd also like to thank GameFAQ's for giving me another opportunity to waste so much of my time writing FAQ's, reviews, and talking on the message boards. Also, special thanks to all whom contributed to this FAQ. All of you who helped me along the way have been credited somewhere up above, but I thought I'd thank you again. One more time. If you want to contact me for any reason, e-mail me at Brian755@home.com. I'd love to know if you have some ideas for improving this FAQ. Thanks to you all for reading this, and enjoy your stay at the Covenant Manor..... ----------------------------------------------------------------------- V. Legal Stuff ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This document is protected by federal law. That means that you have to ask my permission before copying it onto any other website, message board, etc. Feel free to print it out for your own personal use, provided that you do not claim credit for it. E-mail me if you have any questions. Rapskallion (Yes, with a K!!!!!)